Hopper for gas-producers.



W.' A. JONES.

HUPPER POR GAS PRODUCERS.

APPLICATION IILED JUNE 15, 1912.

Patented Mar. 24, 1914 W. A. JONES. HOPPER FOR GAS PRODUCERS.

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'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE.

WILLIAM A. JONES, OF WEST NEW BRIGHTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE BABCOGK 86 WILGOX COMPANY, OF BAYONNE, NEIN JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

HOPPER FOR GAS-PRODUCERS.

Patented Mar. 2d, i914.

To all 'whom it may concern Be it known that I, WiLLiAM A. JONES, a citizen of the United States, residing at West New Brighton, Staten Island, in the county of Richmond and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hoppers for Gas-Producers, 0f which the following is a specification.

I-Ieretofore, various contrivances have been used for introducing coal into gas producers, among the simplest being a small hopper having a bottom which is capable of being lowered to allow the coal to fall from the hopper into the producer. In order that this bottom should properly center itself when it is closed, and so that the coal will be completely discharged from the hopper, this bottom has usually been made conical, with an angle steep enough so that'the coal will slide from it. While this arrangement is very simple, it has the disadvantage that the coal being without initial velocity drops very nearly vertically `into a pile below and is not evenly distributed over the fuel bed. In an effort to distribute the coal evenly over the fuel bed, various more complicated mechanisms have been employed, in which either the fuel bed is made to rotate under a stationary hopper, so that the coal will be successively deposited on different parts of the fuel bed, or a rotating distributor has been placed above a stationary fuel bed. With the latter of these two arrangements, it is possible to make the mechanism lighter than with the former, but they both lack the simplicity of the first arrangement described.

Vhen the coal is deposit-ed in a pile near the center of the producer by the simple mechanism first described above, the outer edges of the fuel bed being very much thinner than the center burn away very much more rapidly, tending to form holes which admit air from below into the `gas and interfere with the proper gasification of the coal. To overcome this, constant poking is necessary, transferring fuel from the center to the edges of the fuel bed, closing up the holes as they form.

Evidently, a mechanism having the simplicity of that iirst described, but depositing the coal in a circle of large diameter so that the outer edges of the fuel bed will not burn out quicker than the center would be a great improvement over any of the arrangements described in the foregoing. To accomplish this, it is necessary that the particles of fuel move outward radially a distance while they are dropping from the hopper to the fuel bed, instead of falling vertically into a pile lbelow; this radial movement requires that they be given an initial velocity which has a horizontal component. In the mechanism described below, the particles of fuel are given an initial velocity by allowing them to fall freely through a certain vertical distance, after which they impinge on a defleeting plate which changes the direction of y the initial velocity so that it has a horizontal component which carries the particles to a distance from the center of the producer by the time they reach the fuel bed below.

The object of this invention is a mechanism for introducing a measured quantity of coalinto a gas producer with the minimum escape of gas, and for distributing this coal uniformly, in a circle of large diameter, on top of the fuel bed.

The invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure l is a central vertical section showing the valves closed; Fig. 2, a similar view with the valves in elevation and open; Fig. 8, a top view; Figs. i and 5, vertical section and top view respectively of the loose ring; Fig. 6, a top view of the valve and spreader plate; and Fig. 7, a view similar to Fig. 2 and a diagrammatic representation of the path of the falling coal.

Similar reference numerals indicate simi lar parts in the several views.

Referring to the drawings the numeral l designates a feed hopper preferably cylindrical, fitted with a cover 2 adapted to rotate on a vertical pivot 3. 'Ilie lower extension of the hopper is Cast with an annular pocket for holding water to keep the valve seat 4c cool, and with a downward projecting circular flange 5 on its outer circumference which dips into the water held in the cast iron top 6 of the producer, with which it forms a seal.

The hopper is divided into two sections,

into the upper of which the fuel is placed before it is discharged into the producer. The base of the upper section compriseska loose ring 7 of conical form supported on an internal circular projection 8. The central opening of this ring is adapted to be closed by a valve 9 to which is connected a counterweighted lever 10 pivoted on a pin 11 passing through ribs cast integral' with the hopper. A slotted washer 12, also pivoted on said pin and surrounding the lever'lO at its entrance through the side wall of the hopper, forms a tight joint to prevent the escape of gas. The valve 9 has a cylindrical extension 13, forming the body of the bell and between which and the hopper the charge is permitted to fall freely in a vertical direction when the valve 9 is lowered from its seat against the ring 7. To guide the bell centrally with the hopper, are three guides 14 cast on the lower end of the eXtension 13.

Secured to the extension 13, and forming the lower part of the bell adapted to close the lower section of the hopper, is a valved disk and spreader plate 15 the working surface of which is flared downwardly and outwardly. It is important that the spreader plate 15 should make a gas-tight joint with its seat 4, and therefore the ring 7 rests loosely on the projection 8 and may be raised therefrom bythe counter-weighted lever 10, if necessary. The water cooled valve and spreader plate will promote the deposit of tar at the joint of the valve seat 4 and said plate, and thus insure a gastight joint at that point.

In operation, cover 2 is moved aside and coal is placed in the space above the ring 7. The cover is then replaced and lever 10 moved to lower the valve 9. The charge then falls through the central opening of ring 7 and impinges against the spreader plate 15, so that it leaves the latter with an initial horizontal velocity which carries it to a greater or less radial distance from the center depending on its velocity due to the distance of its vertical fall and the angularity of the spreader plate 15, and the distance from the spreader plate to the top of theV fuel bed below. This is illustrated in diagrammatic form in Fig. 7 in which the initial velocity with which a lump of coal leaves the spreader is such that at the end of successive equal intervals of time it will have traveled over distances represented by the lines 1", 2V and 8". The action of gravity for these successive equal intervals of time deliects the path of this lump of coal from a straight line in amounts 1A, 4A and 9A, so that the lower dotted line of this diagram shows the actual path of such a lump of coal. The initial velocity with which the coal leaves the spreader 15 is sensibly that due to its having fallen the distance between the ring 7 and the inclined surface of the spreader plate.

While I have described the invention as adapted for use in connection with a `gas producer it is to be understood that it is alpplicable to blast furnaces and the like.

That I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a charging apparatus forfurnaces in combination, a hopper having two seating surfaces, a bell having two valves adapted to seat against said'surfaces, the lower of said valves serving as a spreader for the charge, and means for moving said bell so as to open and close said valves simultaneously.

2. In a charging apparatus for furnaces in combination, a hopper having two seating surfaces, a bell having two valves adapted` to seat against said surfaces, the lower of said valves. being of greater diameter than 4the upper and serving as a spreader for the charge, and means for moving said bell so as to open and close said valves simultaneously.

3. In a charging apparatus for furnaces in combination, a hopper having two seating surfaces one within the hopper and the other at its lower edge, a bell having two valves adapted to seat against said surfaces, the lower ofsaid valves serving as a spreader 'for the charge, and means for moving said bell so as to open and close said valves simultaneously.

4. In a charging apparatus for furnaces in combination, a hopper having two seatin surfaces, a bell having a body and a valve at its upper end both of less diameter than the internal diameter of the'hopper and a valve at its lower end of greater diameter than the internal diameter of the hopper, an annular seat for the upper valve, and an operating lever for the bell whereby the valves may be moved simultaneously.

5. In a charging apparatus for furnaces in combination, a hopper having within it a loose seating surface, a bell having two valves the upper of which is adapted to seat against said surface and the lower to seat against the lower end of the hopper, and means for raising and lowering said bell to thereby open and close said valves simultaneo-usly.

6. In a charging apparatus for furnaces in combination, a hopper having upper and lower sections, a ring loosely supported therein and forming the base of the upper section, a bell having a valve adapted to seat against said ring, a valve adapted to 'Y close the lower section of the hopper and serving as a spreader for the charge, and means for raising and lowering the bell to thereby open and close said valves simultaneously. Y

7. In a charging apparat-us for furnaces in combination, a hopper having tWoSeating surfaces, a bell having a body and valves In testimony whereof I have hereunto at its upper and lower ends adapted to seat signed my name in the presence of two subaganst said surfaces, the lower of said soribing witnesses.

valves serving as a spreader for the Charge, WILLIAM A. JONES. means for moving the bell so as to open and Witnesses:

close said Valves simultaneously, and means HEBER C. INSLEE,

for guiding Jshe bell centrally of the hopper. EDWARD A. BANNON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patente,

washington, n. c. 

